Thursday, August 20, 2009

My younger brother came up to visit this past weekend which meant the Schraer brother trifecta was once again together again. We had a great time, minus some brotherly squabbling (as brothers tend to do) and I managed to sneak a few sketches in of both of them this time. In the first drawing Jacob reminds me of an old timey British butler and there is something seriously wrong with Daniel's face in the other sketch. Too bad! That's all for now.

Wednesday, August 19, 2009

I completely forgot to mention some really big news. I recently got rehired at Powell's City of Books as an occasional cashier, filling in shifts etc. Take THAT recession. This actually has a multitude of upsides beyond the financial boost. For one I can now bike to and from work which gives me some much needed exercise. I've always had a problem with pure exercise, but biking with a destination is just up my alley. Secondly, there is a Buffalo Exchange across the street from Powell's which means I have a better chance of finding those perfect jeans and shoes I so desperately need. If I check after every shift I'm bound to find them, right? RIGHT?? Thirdly when I don't feel like biking to work I can take the bus and rediscover and refine the lost art of sneak sketching. I did this a lot when I lived in San Francisco and I forgot how awesome it is. Buses are actually havens for interesting looking folk who you WANT to draw. It also forces me to get all the important parts down and not dwell on the details. Following is sneak sketch #1 and #2.

The woman was actually drawn at a coffee shop (obviously) but the same skills are needed. I actually had some time to throw in some color with this one and I'm really happy with the results. I have to try and use color more often.

It occurs to me that I've downloaded a lot of French music lately. First it was a five disc collection by Yves Montand who I sought out after falling in love with the track "Rue St. Vincent" off the Rushmore soundtrack, which led me to an extensive collection of songs about Paris, and I most recently acquired a collection of French girl pop music from the 60s. It's not all great but it's certainly broken up the familiarity of my music library.

I also just finished reading "Joker" by Brian Azzarello (art by Lee Bermejo). It depicts a more modern version of the Joker, closer to Heath Ledgers interpretation, and almost no appearance of Batman. Not a life changing book, but definitely entertaining and well executed.

Tuesday, August 18, 2009

Okay, let's not beat around the bush. I've been absent. REALLY absent. I've neglected my poor blog and now I have to pay the toll. Is anyone still out there? I've been working on projects here and there. I finished the wedding invite I mentioned...and I haven't finished a number of other projects I've started. Here's the first of a slew of sketches that I've done in the past few weeks.

A friend of mine. This was a preliminary sketch for a more polished piece that I've procrastinated on for quite a while. Still hoping for the kick in the pants to finish it.

Spectators at an MJ tribute show featuring local Portland musicians. As you can imagine the results were underwhelming, save one really good interpretation. I should mention that I missed the first half of the show. For some reason I really wanted to add in giant vegetables coming out of the ground. As you can see it never came to fruition.

Preliminary sketch for wedding invitation decoration. The happy couple are avid brewers of their own beer and wanted the design to incorporate hops. This was difficult since I've never seen hops before in real life, but the internet seemed to know what they looked like.

I hope this return post was adequate. Come back tomorrow for more back sketches. I PROMISE. Now it's time for more sketching and maybe watching Twins, which Stephanie has never seen. I know, weird right?